Description: Develop a harmonised data management plan [D4.2] [NERCNOC] for all South Atlantic tide gauge data building on current international data centre activities.

Description: At its meeting in May 1999, the IOC Group of Experts on the Global Sea Level Observing System (GE-GLOSS) discussed the need for data archaeology of historic sea level records in order to possibly extend existing time series and/or gain access to observations which are not in digital form. Following on from this, a member of the GE-GLOSS attended the GODAR Review Conference in Silver Spring, Maryland in July 1999, and suggested that sea-level data also be included in the GODAR project. The GODAR sea level proposal is this. In many countries there are considerable amounts of historical sea level data in paper form such as charts or tabulations. These need to be computerised (a) as a backup for data security, and (b) so that they can be subject to modern quality control and data analysis. The data can then be used for the various GLOSS-related activities described in the GLOSS Implementation Plan (e.g. GLOSS-altimetry (ALT), GLOSS-long term trends (LTT) etc.).

Description: Supported by IOC/IODE

Description: Lisbon, Portugal, 30 October – 9 November 2000

Description: Published

Description: Sixteenth Session

Description: This report will describe the activities of the Chairman of the IODE Committee over the intersessional period. It will also focus briefly on the developments and achievements in the IODE program and also on issues and external activities that benefit or impact IODE in some way. The report will briefly describe some specific meetings where the IODE Chairman has represented the IODE community.

Description: Supported by IOC/IODE

Description: External activities

Description: In the late 1960s IODE started the system of the National Oceanographic Programmes (NOPs) and Cruise Summary Reports (CSRs, formerly ROSCOPs) as a way to share information on planned research cruises as well as to report on the results of research cruises. For many years the NOP information was managed by the IODE Secretariat. However, at IODE-XV (1995) an offer was made by the University of Delaware to take on this task as part of OCEANIC (www.cms.udel.edu). The IODE Committee accepted this kind offer and Oceanic managed the service for well over ten years. At IODE-XVI, IODE decided to cease the mailing of paper copies of NOPs by the Secretariat, requested NODCs to mail NOPs directly to OCEANIC, and recommended that NOP information be made available on-line through OCEANIC. OCEANIC has continued this function, but has found it increasingly difficult to fund this activity in recent years. The ROSCOP (Report of Observations/ Samples Collected by Oceanographic Programmes) was conceived by IOC/IODE in the late 1960s in order to provide a low level inventory for tracking oceanographic data collected on Research Vessels. The ROSCOP form was extensively revised in 1990, and was re-named the Cruise Summary Report (CSR). Most marine disciplines are represented in the CSR, including physical, chemical, and biological oceanography, marine geology and geophysics, fisheries, marine contaminants, and marine meteorology. Traditionally, it is the Chief Scientist's obligation to submit a CSR to his/her National Oceanographic Data Centre (NODC) within two to three weeks after the cruise. In the early years, these were periodically transmitted to the World Data Centres for Oceanography and to ICES. In the late 1980s ICES led the effort to digitise the ROSCOP/CSR information and pioneered the development of a database for this information, and, in collaboration with IOC/IODE, developed and maintained a PC-based CSR entry tool and search facility. The emphasis for this was on ICES member countries, but extended to other countries who wished to submit their information. The CSR activity gained new momentum in Europe during the EU-funded EURONODIM/Sea-Search projects under the lead of BSH/DOD, Germany. The combined ICES and Sea-Search/SeaDataNet CSR database now comprises details of over 35000 oceanographic research cruises primarily from Europe and North America, but also including some other regions (e.g. Japan, Australia), some information extending back over the last 40 years, and with some as far as to 1873. Every fortnight, CSRs of BSH/DOD and ICES are synchronised. BSH/DOD has developed and now operates an on-line system for SeaDataNet partners entering and updating Cruise Summary Reports ‘CSROnline’ directly by Chief Scientists, and also for handling CSRs, delivered by NODCs in an agreed XML format. In addition, BSH/DOD offers searching of the CSR database via the ‘CSR Retrieval’ facility. Both the CSR entry and the CSR retrieval facilities are hosted at a dedicated server at BSH/DOD, but can be accessed via the Sea-Search portal (www.sea-search.net).

Description: Supported by IOC/IODE

Description: Document available in English

Description: Data flow

Description: The IOC Data and Information Management Strategy covers all of the data collected in IOC programmes. The vision is for “A comprehensive and integrated ocean data and information system, serving the broad and diverse needs of IOC Member States, for both routine and scientific use.” The IOC Data Management Strategy will deliver the following: - process and archive data on common variables according to scientifically sound and welldocumented standards and formats; - distribute data on common variables (observations and model outputs) in real time and in “delayed” modes depending on the needs of user groups and their technical capabilities (automatic dissemination as well as “on demand”); and - enable efficient access to data on common variables and derived products (including forecasts, alerts and warnings) by users who have a broad range of capabilities. The basic principles against which the Data and Information Management Strategy will be assessed include: (i) adherence to relevant data policies (including data provision to all member states), (ii) development of, and access to, products and services, making the best use of appropriate technology, (iii) capacity building, (iv) inclusion of National Oceanographic Data Centres (NODCs), specialised oceanographic data centres (such as those associated with, for example, Argo, GTSPP and the drifting buoy programme) and regional data centres, (v) project data management elements and (vi) collaboration with other relevant groups. The IOC Data and Information system will, like that of the Global Earth Observing System of Systems (GEOSS), be a system of systems. Each of these should be an end-to-end system, handling data from the point of collection, through processing and quality control, to archival and dissemination. There is no “one size fits all”, but by use of standards interoperability between the systems can be achieved. As noted by GEOSS in its Implementation Plan, the informal definition of interoperability is very useful in scoping the problem. This is: “What few things must be the same so everything else can be different.” Increasingly standards are available, which have been designed elsewhere but which are applicable to ocean or marine data. These include those developed by the International Standards Organisation (ISO), the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC). The major elements of the strategy are: - Adherence to the IOC Oceanographic Data Exchange Policy - Governance by a management committee, aided by a technical task team, supported by data and information coordination units - There should be a permanent long-term data archiving centre for all data, which operates to agreed standards - Standardisation of discovery metadata, converging to the use of ISO19115/19139, and recommendation of a suitable metadata tool(s) - Use of common standardised vocabularies and ontologies (guided by the Marine Metadata Interoperability project, including SeaVox) - Review of the available transport mechanisms and adopt the most appropriate to its needs for each situation - Interoperability between the different end-to-end systems for IOC data and with other systems (e.g. GEOSS, International Council for Science (ICSU), International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), Census of Marine Lifr (CoML)/Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS), US Integrated Ocean Observing System Data Management and Communications (IOOS DMAC) system, SeaDataNet, etc.) through the use of service oriented architecture - Recommended best practice for quality control documented (including a standard suite of automatic quality control tests, scientific (agreed by appropriate experts) quality control and a single quality flag scheme) and made easily accessible and available - Exchange data in an agreed small number of formats (e.g. netCDF, BUFR for GTS, ASCII (CSV), XML and OGC compliant GIS output) - To continue to develop Ocean Data and Information Networks (ODINs) backed up by OceanTeacher as a capacity building tool, whilst extending OceanTeacher through cooperation with WMO, JCOMM and others as appropriate - Development of appropriate metrics to help evaluate the data and information system - Facilitation of proper citation of data sets by providing all the required elements of a citation including an unambiguous, unchanging reference Communication and outreach must be a key element in the Data Strategy, which must be addressed at various levels. Communication within and between IOC programmes, and with IOC’s partners, is essential to ensure that one data system rather than the current multitude of systems results. But IOC does not exist in isolation and cooperation and collaboration with other organisations with similar interests and goals is essential. Participation in meetings of other organisations undertaking similar initiatives and dissemination of information via the web are both essentials method of communication and outreach. Information about the IOC Data Strategy, its development, data centres, standards, and implementation progress must be made available in an easy to understand form. There are many IOC and IOC-related programmes and projects with a data management component. Presently there are also many mechanisms to coordinate the various individual ocean and marine data systems. Whilst these are essential to the continued operation of the data management and exchange of the various data streams, an overarching coordination must be put into place to encourage adoption of standards, protocols, technologies, etc. IODE and the JCOMM Data Management Coordination Group (DMCG) should coordinate this effort, through the suggested Ocean Data and Information Management Steering Group, and develop the implementation plan, building on the existing expert groups and continuing close links with groups external to IOC. Indeed already there are many initiatives which are making progress on the goals identified. This includes the development of the ISO19115 marine community profile for metadata and work on developing common vocabularies and ontologies. Increasingly there are moves towards serviceoriented architecture and use of W3C, OGC and ISO standards. These should be continued. Further work is necessary on quality control. New technical groups may be required to solve some of the issues raised. Data assembly and archiving centres must be strengthened and properly resourced. A suite of metrics needs to be developed to enable assessment of the progress of the overall system and some over all data information unit or centre established, building on those which already exist. The IOC Data and Information Management Strategy will build on existing systems, and will make every attempt not to re-invent the wheel. A fundamental concept is that, like GEOSS, is the ocean or marine “system of systems” must be built on existing systems and initiatives with sufficient flexibility to encompass future systems. Borrowing words from the IOOS DMAC plan, it will “adopt, adapt and only develop as necessary”. The Ocean Data Portal proposal has this as a key principle. The greatest challenge to be faced in developing and implementing the IOC Data and Information Management Strategy is one of coordination and cooperation among member countries, partners and user communities. There are currently still major barriers to the efficient use and re-use of data and to overcome these, and make the best use of the new technologies available, a culture change is required. The information technology required to meet most of the requirements of the strategy, whilst challenging, can be developed from existing capabilities through relatively straightforward software engineering. But the strategy will only succeed if all participants actively use the data and metadata standards, communications protocols, software, and policies that will knit the parts into an integrated whole.

Description: Supported by IOC/IODE

Description: Document available in English

Description: Strategic plan; oceanographic data; information management

Description: This report will describe the activities of the Chairman of the IODE Committee over the intersessional period and provide an update on those issues that the 23rd Session of the IOC Assembly (2005) and the 39th Executive Council (2006) instructed IODE to consider. It will also focus briefly on the developments and achievements in the IODE program and also on issues and external activities that benefit or impact IODE in some way. The report will briefly describe some specific meetings where the IODE Chairman has represented the IODE community.

Description: Supported by IOC/IODE

Description: Document available in English

Description: Activities

Description: The ICSU WDS concept aims at a transition from existing stand-alone WDCs and individual Services to a common globally interoperable distributed data system that incorporates emerging technologies and new scientific data activities. The new system will build on the potential offered by advanced interconnections between data management components for disciplinary and multidisciplinary scientific data applications. The WDS will enjoy a broader disciplinary and geographic base than previous ICSU bodies and will strive to become a worldwide ‘community of excellence’ for scientific data. To this end, WDS will work closely with ICSU’s Committee on Data for Science and Technology (CODATA) and with the new ICSU Strategic Coordinating Committee for Information and Data (SCCID). In addition, a WDS Scientific Committee (WDS-SC) has been appointed by ICSU to implement and administer the activities of the WDS.

Description: Supported by IOC for IODE.

Description: Document available in English.

Description: Unpublished

Description: The Global Sea-level Observing System (GLOSS) was established by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 1985 to provide oversight and coordination for global and regional sea-level networks in support of scien- tific research. The first GLOSS Implementation Plan (GIP) in 1990 established the GLOSS Core Network (GCN) of ~300 tide gauges distributed around the world, technical standards for GLOSS tide gauge stations, as well as the basic terms and obligations for Member States participating in GLOSS. The second GIP in 1997 expanded the GLOSS programme to include sub-networks focused on long historical records suitable for the detection of long-term sea- level trends and accelerations (GLOSS-LTT), a cali- bration network for satellite altimetry (GLOSS-ALT), and a network suitable for monitoring aspects of the global ocean circulation (GLOSS-OC). In addition, a strategy for integrating Global Positioning System (GPS) into monitoring of land levels at GLOSS tide gauges was developed. The focus of the GIP 2012 remains the GCN and the datasets that result from this network. The new plan calls for two significant upgrades to the GCN moti- vated by scientific and operational requirements: 1) all GCN stations are required to report data in near-real time, which will be tracked at a Sea-level Station Monitoring Facility. This will involve upgrades in power, data acquisition plat- forms, and communication packages; however, these upgrades are cost-effective in terms of the benefits that a real-time system will provide for ocean monitoring and improved station perfor- mance due to early detection of station malfunc- tions; 2) continuous measurements of the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), in particular the U.S. Global Positioning System (GPS), the Russian GLONASS, or the newly established European GALILEO, or equivalent systems, in the vicinity of the tide gauge benchmark (TGBM) are required for all GCN stations. This upgrade will support satellite altimetry calibration and research efforts aimed at determining geocentric global sea-level rise rates as well as regional changes in sea level. Most relevant, vertical land movements can signifi- cantly alter the rates of sea-level rise expected from the sole climatic contributions of ocean ther- mal expansion and land-based ice melting, possi- bly magnifying the impacts of sea-level rise on the coast. In many cases, this requirement can be met by taking advantage of existing GNSS receivers maintained by other groups, as long as a precise geodetic tie to the GCN tide gauge can be made using, e.g. conventional levelling. The organization of the plan is as follows. An over- view of the GLOSS programme (chapter 1) and a brief summary of the uses of tide gauge data (chapter 2) are presented. The current status of the GLOSS programme is considered (chapter 3), followed by a discussion of the sea-level monitoring requirements raised by advisory groups and panels (chapter 4), as well as a self-assessment based on specific research and operational applications (chapter 5). These requirements are used to develop implementation goals for the GLOSS networks and data centres (chapter 6). Minor modifications are proposed for the administrative structure of GLOSS aimed at providing improved oversight of the imple- mentation plan (chapter 7). The success of the plan depends critically on the participation of Member States, whose obligations are summarized (chapter 8). The successful Training, Education and Mutual Assistance programmes that have been a corner stone of GLOSS will be continued to help meet implementation requirements (chapter 9). Additional technical and programmatic details are included in a set of appendices.

Description: OpenASFA input

Description: Published

Description: Refereed

Description: © The Author(s), 2019. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Ponte, R. M., Carson, M., Cirano, M., Domingues, C. M., Jevrejeva, S., Marcos, M., Mitchum, G., van de Wal, R. S. W., Woodworth, P. L., Ablain, M., Ardhuin, F., Ballu, V., Becker, M., Benveniste, J., Birol, F., Bradshaw, E., Cazenave, A., De Mey-Fremaux, P., Durand, F., Ezer, T., Fu, L., Fukumori, I., Gordon, K., Gravelle, M., Griffies, S. M., Han, W., Hibbert, A., Hughes, C. W., Idier, D., Kourafalou, V. H., Little, C. M., Matthews, A., Melet, A., Merrifield, M., Meyssignac, B., Minobe, S., Penduff, T., Picot, N., Piecuch, C., Ray, R. D., Rickards, L., Santamaria-Gomez, A., Stammer, D., Staneva, J., Testut, L., Thompson, K., Thompson, P., Vignudelli, S., Williams, J., Williams, S. D. P., Woppelmann, G., Zanna, L., & Zhang, X. Towards comprehensive observing and modeling systems for monitoring and predicting regional to coastal sea level. Frontiers in Marine Science, 6, (2019): 437, doi:10.3389/fmars.2019.00437.

Description: A major challenge for managing impacts and implementing effective mitigation measures and adaptation strategies for coastal zones affected by future sea level (SL) rise is our limited capacity to predict SL change at the coast on relevant spatial and temporal scales. Predicting coastal SL requires the ability to monitor and simulate a multitude of physical processes affecting SL, from local effects of wind waves and river runoff to remote influences of the large-scale ocean circulation on the coast. Here we assess our current understanding of the causes of coastal SL variability on monthly to multi-decadal timescales, including geodetic, oceanographic and atmospheric aspects of the problem, and review available observing systems informing on coastal SL. We also review the ability of existing models and data assimilation systems to estimate coastal SL variations and of atmosphere-ocean global coupled models and related regional downscaling efforts to project future SL changes. We discuss (1) observational gaps and uncertainties, and priorities for the development of an optimal and integrated coastal SL observing system, (2) strategies for advancing model capabilities in forecasting short-term processes and projecting long-term changes affecting coastal SL, and (3) possible future developments of sea level services enabling better connection of scientists and user communities and facilitating assessment and decision making for adaptation to future coastal SL change.

Description: RP was funded by NASA grant NNH16CT00C. CD was supported by the Australian Research Council (FT130101532 and DP 160103130), the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR) Working Group 148, funded by national SCOR committees and a grant to SCOR from the U.S. National Science Foundation (Grant OCE-1546580), and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO/International Oceanographic Data and Information Exchange (IOC/IODE) IQuOD Steering Group. SJ was supported by the Natural Environmental Research Council under Grant Agreement No. NE/P01517/1 and by the EPSRC NEWTON Fund Sustainable Deltas Programme, Grant Number EP/R024537/1. RvdW received funding from NWO, Grant 866.13.001. WH was supported by NASA (NNX17AI63G and NNX17AH25G). CL was supported by NASA Grant NNH16CT01C. This work is a contribution to the PIRATE project funded by CNES (to TP). PT was supported by the NOAA Research Global Ocean Monitoring and Observing Program through its sponsorship of UHSLC (NA16NMF4320058). JS was supported by EU contract 730030 (call H2020-EO-2016, “CEASELESS”). JW was supported by EU Horizon 2020 Grant 633211, Atlantos.